Trouble with win_package

[Dimitri Yioulos]

All,

I'm running version 2.3 (can't update to 2.4 just yet) and, despite what should be super stupid simple, I've never been able to get win_package to work.  I've changed up my win_package play in every conceivable way, but no joy.  Here's my basic set-up, which is taken directly from the doc:

---

- hosts: all

  gather_facts: false

  tasks:

    - name: install hotfix kb3140245

      win_package:

        path: C:\temp\windows6.1-kb3140245-x64_5b067ffb69a94a6e5f9da89ce88c658e52a0dec0.msu'

        product_id: 'MicrosoftTLS'

        arguments: '/quiet /norestart'

        state: present

Here's the error I get:

fatal: [acampos10]: FAILED! => {"changed": false, "failed": true, "msg": "The given Path (C:\\temp\\windows6.1-kb3140245-x64_5b067ffb69a94a6e5f9da89ce88c658e52a0dec0.msu') could not be found", "name": "C:\\temp\\windows6.1-kb3140245-x64_5b067ffb69a94a6e5f9da89ce88c658e52a0dec0.msu'"}

OK, so it looks like the backslashes are causing the problem.  But, I've tried many things to account for that, without success.  Would someone be kind enough to point out what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks.

[Dimitri Yioulos]

path should read:

path: C:\temp\windows6.1-kb3140245-x64_5b067ffb69a94a6e5f9da89ce88c658e52a0dec0.msu

[Jordan Borean]

There are a few issues you will come across;

* You figured out that the path shouldn't have the end single quote, unless you are start the path with a single quote. No need to escape the backslashes unless you enclose it in double quotes
* While you specify the path as .msu, win_package doesn't have any smarts in place to automatically use wusa.exe to install the hotfix, you need to modify the path and arguments to use wusa.exe
* There is the win_hotfix module in 2.4 but this isn't available for Server 2008, 2008 R2 without lots of messing around so for this hotfix it probably won't matter but I've included an example anyway

The final issue is that on a WinRM process any access to the Windows Update API like wusa.exe will fail with access is denied, you need to escape the Network Logon process to get it working, there are multiple ways of doing this currently

* Use Ansible and become to become an interactive process, while this was added in 2.3 it was experimental and only worked in certain situations. I would recommend you upgrade to 2.5 when it is out as it is no longer experimental and quite easy to use
* Use a scheduled task to run the process, this works but it quite cumbersome to setup and run so I won't give an example
* Use psexec and the win_psexec module, it requires the psexec executable downloaded onto the host and chocolately can do that for you

Because you are on an older Ansible version the psexec option will be the easiest way for you to move forward so I recommend you look into that.

# on 2.5 you could do the following for most Windows hosts
- name: install hotfix KB3140245
  win_package:
    path: C:\Windows\System32\wusa.exe
    arguments: C:\temp\windows6.1-kb3140245-x64_5b067ffb69a94a6e5f9da89ce88c658e52a0dec0.msu /quiet /norestart
    product_id: MicrosoftTLS
    state: present
  register: hotfix_install
  become: yes
  become_method: runas
  become_user: SYSTEM

- name: reboot if required
  win_reboot:
  when: hotfix_install.reboot_required



# or from 2.4 onwards and Server 2012 or newer you can use win_hotfix (I know this is for Server 2008 R2 but keeping it here as an example for other updates)
- name: install hotfix KB3140245
  win_hotfix:
    path: C:\temp\windows6.1-kb3140245-x64_5b067ffb69a94a6e5f9da89ce88c658e52a0dec0.msu
    hotfix_kb: KB3140245
    state: present
  register: hotfix_install

- name: reboot host if required
  win_reboot:
  when: hotfix_install.reboot_required



# finally if you cannot upgrade Ansible versions, you can get it working with psexec by running these tasks
- name: make sure psexec is installed locally
  win_chocolatey:
    name: psexec
    state: present

- name: check if hotfix KB3140245 is installed
  win_shell: if (Get-Hotfix -Id KB3140245 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) { "true" } else { "false" }
  register: hotfix_installed

- name: install hotfix if not installed
  win_psexec:
    command: C:\Windows\System32\wusa.exe C:\temp\windows6.1-kb3140245-x64_5b067ffb69a94a6e5f9da89ce88c658e52a0dec0.msu /quiet /norestart
    system: yes
  register: hotfix_install_out
  failed_when: hotfix_install_out.rc not in [0, 3010]
  when: hotfix_installed.stdout_lines[0] == "false"

- name: reboot system if required
  win_reboot:
  when: hotfix_install_out.rc == 3010

Thanks

Jordan